


How Do You Know?

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Clueless Hotch, Friendship, Gen, Growing Up, Valentine's Day, Worried Hotch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 13:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13614012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Jack turns to a friend to ask- How do you know?





	How Do You Know?

Henry darted out the back door and found his friend in the fort at the back of the yard. Crawling in to join Jack, he got settled as best he could in the increasingly cramped space. “Hey Jack. What’s going on?”

“Hey.” Jack peeked out the doorway to make sure no adults had followed Henry out. “How do you know when you like someone?” He ducked his head. “ _Like_ like them?”

He had to think a minute. “I dunno. I think you get all silly inside. When my mom and dad are together, they’re always silly unless it’s something really serious. When I met Julie, she made me feel all silly and squiggly inside.” His face lit up. “Do you like a girl?”

Jack shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Well, I talked to my mom and dad about Julie and they did some talking and my mom and me met Julie and her mom and we had pizza. It was really fun, we got to play arcade games and I won one of those purple bunnies in the claw game. I gave it to Julie and our moms but got all silly about it.”

“Oh.”

Henry looked at his friend. “Who is it?”

Jack just shrugged again.

“When I saw her at school, before the silly feeling, I just remembered how my dad treats my mom and did nice stuff and it made her smile. _That’s_ when the silly feeling started. Her smile made it happen. So, I did more stuff so she would smile again.”

“Oh.” Jack stared out into the yard, thinking.

Henry nudged his friend’s shoulder with his. “So…”

He sighed. “Her name is Hannah. She’s in my math class.” He picked up a stick and scratched at the dirt. “I… I don’t think she even knows who I am, and the Valentine’s Party is coming up.”

“Well… Have you talked to your dad?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Henry’s brows pulled together in confusion.

“I dunno.” He shrugged.

“Well, maybe you can just do nice things for Hannah like you see your dad do, he’s a nice guy. Then she’ll smile at you and you can go out for pizza too.”

“But you went with your mom and met Julie and her mom.”

“Oh.” Henry hadn’t thought about that.

“And anyway, I never see my dad with girls like that. You said you did nice things like your dad does for your mom. But it’s just my dad and me.”

“Oh.” Henry repeated.

“I thought maybe I like her, but maybe not.”

“I can talk to my mom, maybe she could take you guys for pizza.”

“No, it’s okay, Hen.” Jack frowned. “It’s not a big deal.” He crawled out of the opening and took off across the yard.

“Wait! Jack!” Henry crawled out and tried to catch up. At the kitchen, he got stopped by his mom and Jack’s dad.

“Hey!” JJ caught him by the sleeve. “Where’s the fire?”

“Uhh…” He stared toward the stairs, knowing Jack had went up to his room. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” She pressed. “Jack goes tearing through here and now you’re chasing after him and that’s nothing? You two never fight.”

“We’re not fighting.”

“Then what is it?”

Henry glanced over at his friend’s dad a moment and then back to his mom. “I- I can’t.”

JJ turned to Aaron and then back to her son. “Is something going on with Jack?”

“No.” He answered too quickly. “He’s fine.” He swallowed hard. “Can I go now?”

“Yeah. Go on.” Once he was out of sight, JJ turned to Aaron. “Well… That’s…”

“Yeah.” Aaron frowned. “Jack’s been quiet all week. I’d honestly hoped that having Henry over would pull him out of whatever’s going on.”

“Doesn’t look like it worked.”

“No.”

JJ chewed her lip. “I could take a crack at it.” When he glanced up at her, she continued. “What could it hurt?”

“You’re right.”

“I’ll go talk to the boys, see if they’re up for a sleepover.” When he nodded, JJ headed upstairs, pausing to listen before she knocked. Through the door, she could hear them talking.

“I’m sorry, Jack, I forgot, okay? Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m not mad at you, Henry. It’s not your fault you have a mom and a dad, you didn’t ask for them. You just got lucky I guess.”

The room was quiet for a minute before JJ heard her son respond. “You’re lucky too. Your dad’s really cool.”

“Yeah.” The older boy’s voice was soft. “I guess so.”

“Maybe one day you’ll get a new mom and she can take you out for pizza with Hannah.”

“I don’t think I’ll get a new one, Hen. It’s just gonna be my dad and me forever.”

Stepping carefully, JJ crept back downstairs to the kitchen.

Hearing her reenter, Aaron looked up. “What’d they say?” He hesitated when JJ sighed, a frown flitting across her face. “What?”

“I didn’t go in. They were talking, and I heard a little of it.” She took a seat at the table and patted next to an open chair, waiting for him to join her. “Henry asked Jack if he was mad at him.”

“For what?”

She hesitated now. “For having a mom and a dad.”

He sagged, unsure what to say.

“Jack told him he wasn’t mad, that Henry just got lucky.”

“I wonder what brought all this on. The boys have never had a problem about this sort of thing before…” He tried to think. “Have they?”

JJ shrugged. “Not that I know about, but I think I might know what brought it on.”

“You do?”

“Henry mentioned something about Jack getting a mom one day and her taking Jack out for pizza with a Hannah?” She didn’t add anything else she’d heard. “I think this is about a girl.” She chewed her lip. “A month or so ago, Henry started talking all the time about this girl Julie at school, so I tracked down her mom and we met with the kids for pizza.” Drawing in a breath, a smile twitched at her lips. “If I had to guess, I’d say Jack is going through the same sort of thing over this Hannah. Who knows what kids talk about with each other, but I know when I was a kid, I went to my sister about boys long before I went to my parents.”

He sighed. “I never went to my parents about girls.”

“See. I do know that when Julie came up it was because Henry had made her a bouquet of paper flowers because he’d seen Will bring me flowers. He said he was acting like Daddy to make her smile.”

Aaron let that sink in. “How… How do I fix this?”

“Fix what?” She didn’t quite follow.

“Henry copied how Will treats you because he’s had that roll model of how to treat a woman, whether he understands it or not. He sees Will be kind and caring toward you and copied the behavior.” He rubbed his forehead with one hand. “What’s Jack have to copy?”

“Hotch.” She took his hand.

“You know, I promised Haley I’d make sure he understood what love is, but the truth is… I’ve been so busy with raising him and with work… I haven’t once considered dating. I’m… I’m no good around women in a social setting. I have Jessica and you guys on the team, but outside of that, I can’t remember the last time I even talked to a woman outside of the job.”

“He’s still welcome to spend the night, but maybe you should go try to talk to him first?”

Aaron sighed. “Yeah.” He hesitated before standing. “Yeah.” Climbing the stairs, he tried to brace for the conversation to follow. He knocked on the door. “Hey, guys. Whatcha doing?”

Both boys exchanged a look before looking up at him. “Nothing.”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you for a minute, Jack. Henry, could you go down with your Mom a minute? No one’s in trouble, I just want to talk to you about something.”

Henry shot his friend a look as he left. “Okay.”

Once the younger boy was gone, Aaron sat on Jack’s bed. “Hey, Jack.”

Jack frowned. “Hey.”

“Who’s Hannah?” He watched Jack’s head shoot up. “JJ overheard the name. She also overheard Henry apologizing for having two parents.”

“I told him he didn’t need to do that.”

“That he was just lucky?”

Jack’s eyes focused on the floor.

“Hey. I know it can be hard, just you and me, but I think we’re doing okay… Aren’t we?”

“I guess.” He shrugged.

“Your Mom…” He drew in a breath, gathering his thoughts. “Before your Mom died, she told me to do something and I think maybe I haven’t be doing it.”

“What’d she tell you?”

“To make sure you understood what love was, to show you. I think it was her way of telling me to remember to move on, to not be alone forever. You asked Henry about girls?”

He nodded. “I would’ve asked my friends at school but when Dillon asked about a girl, the other boys teased him. Henry wouldn’t ever tease me.”

“No, he wouldn’t. He’s a good friend. Maybe I can still help?” He watched his son shrug. “Maybe… Maybe we can talk about how I am with some of my friends and see if it can’t help you talk to her?”

Jack gave him a confused look.

“Well, when Henry and JJ come over, you see how I do nice things for her. I make drinks and snacks. Or… When Aunt Jessica comes with us somewhere and I hold the door open for her or…pay for dinner?”

“Okay.” He thought. “You do stuff for Aunt Emily and Aunt Penny too.”

“I do.”

“And Spence.”

“Spencer?”

Jack nodded, his mind was circling now. “Yeah, you do silly stuff for Aunt Jessica and Em’ly and JJ and Penny… And Spence. But not Uncle Dave or Derek.”

“I do silly stuff for Spencer?” His brows pulled together.

Ignoring his dad’s question, Jack stood just as Henry burst back into the room.

“Jack! My mom says you can spend the night!” Both boys tore off downstairs.

JJ was in the living room when a stunned looking Aaron appeared. “Boys! Go make sure you’ve cleaned up the back yard. Go.” She shooed them out, turning to Hotch. “What’s that look for?”

“I do silly stuff for Spencer?”

She chuckled. “You didn’t know?”

“Know?”

She shook her head. “So, does Jack like a girl?”

“Yes, he does.” He followed her into the kitchen. “JJ. What am I supposed to know?”

“Aaron…” She didn’t finish as the boys rushed back in and then thundered up the stairs to pack Jack a bag.

Twenty minutes later, Aaron was standing in his house alone, looking around. “What am I supposed to know?”


End file.
